Not Sure Where That Was Going: Lina’s Grammy’s Review
Lina Benich ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff
Some of top award winners!
| Album of the Year | Mumford & Sons, Babel |
| Record of the Year | Gotye ft. Kimbra, “Somebody I Used to Know” |
| Song of the Year | Fun. ft. Janelle Monae, “We Are Young” Written by Jack Antonoff, Jeff Bhasker, Andrew Dost, Nate Ruess |
| Best New Artist | Fun. |
| Best Pop Vocal Album | Kelly Clarkson, Stronger |
| Best Pop Solo Performance | Adele, “Set Fire to the Rain (Live)” |
| Best Pop Duo/Group Performance | Gotye ft. Kimbra, “Somebody I Used to Know” |
| Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album | Paul McCartney, Kisses On the Bottom |
| Best Rock Performance | The Black Keys, “Lonely Boy” |
| Best Hard Rock or Metal Performance | Halestrom, “Love Bites (So Do I)” |
| Best Rock Song | The Black Keys, “Lonely Boy” |
| Best Rock Album | The Black Keys, El Camino |
| Best Alternative Music Album | Gotye, Making Mirrors |
| Best R&B Performance | Usher, “Climax” |
| Best Traditional R&B Performance | Beyoncé, “Love On Top” |
| Best R&B Song | Miguel, “Adorn” |
| Best Urban Contemporary Album | Frank Ocean, Channel Orange |
| Best R&B Album | Robert Glasper Experiment, Black Radio |
| Best Rap Performance | Jay-Z & Kanye West, “N***s in Paris” |
| Best Rap-Sung Collaboration | Jay-Z & Kanye West ft. Frank Ocean & The Dream, ”No Church in the Wild” |
| Best Rap Song | Jay-Z & Kanye West, “N***s in Paris” |
| Best Rap Album | Drake, “Take Care” |
| Best Country Solo Performance | Carrie Underwood, “Blown Away” |
| Best Country Duo-Group Performance | Little Big Town, “Pontoon” |
| Best Country Song | Carrie Underwood, “Blown Away” |
| Best Country Album | Zac Brown Band, Uncaged |
| Best Song Written for Visual Media | Taylor Swift, John Paul White, Joy Williams, “Safe & Sound (from The Hunger Games)” |
| Best Short-Form Music Video | Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris, “We Found Love” |
| Best Long-Form Music Video | Mumford & Sons, “Big Easy Express” |
| Best Spoken Word | Janis Ian, Society’s Child: My Autobiography |
Now that we’ve got the hard facts out of the way, it’s time get on to the performances.
The night started off with Taylor Swift performing her song “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” which provided even more confusion as to what the song is even about. Here’s the thing. I don’t really hate on music, because I think that each artist is their own thing and all, but once an artist finds their thing, they should stick to it. Make their collection of work cohesive. This was not the case with Taylor Swift.
For anyone who has listened to the song, it seems to be about an ex-boyfriend trying to get Swift back, who is vehemently opposed to this. For anyone who has seen the music video, the song also seems to be about dancing woodland creatures playing the accordion, banjo, and washboard. For those of us who watched the Grammys, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” is evidently about an Alice in Wonderland circus where Swift is the ringleader and everyone bashes her ex-boyfriend Harry Styles. Swift’s outfit even resembled the outfit Brittany Spears wore in her music video “Circus.” I hope for Swift’s case that she is not heading down 20s Brittany’s road.
The next performance was a duet between two Brits, Ed Sheeran and Elton John, singing Sheeran’s hit “The A-Team”. Now this I liked. It focused on why the Grammys exist: the music that has inspired the world in the past year (Elton John’s eccentric style notwithstanding). Both artists stepped up to the plate with good harmonies and John managed to maintain his personal style. Though if Elton John were anything but his pure, sparkly-jacket, blue-glasses self, there would have been something wrong.
Fun., the winners of Best New Artist and Song of the Year, took the stage next and knocked it out of the park with their performance. Refusing to cut any corners, the band even had a thunderstorm breakout onstage in the middle of their song. When was the last time that happened on an awards show? But spectacle aside, Fun. came prepared. They played well and proved that they have the talent to back up their spectacle of a performance.
Successfully fulfilling the Grammys’ need for a solid country act, Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley’s duet impressed. Despite various sound issues throughout their performance, Lambert and Bentley had a tight set that was much more focused on the music.
At this point in the night, however, the acts begin to drag a little and blend together. Miguel and Wiz Kalifa rocked the audience with their duet, wandering throughout the aisles during the performance.
On the wave of Justin Timberlake’s return to music, he sang his new single “Suit & Tie.” He even had The Tennessee Kids play as his band and all everyone involved was decked out in suits and ties, fittingly.
Maroon 5 and Alicia Keys sang “Girl on Fire,” which might sound like a song from The Hunger Games soundtrack, but it is actually an electric number. To the surprise of many, Alicia Keys was even drumming herself.
Rihanna and Mikky Ekko sang “Stay,” slowing the night down and using sound effects to go with Ekko’s piano accompaniment. The resulting sound was lovely, but the camera operators should not have gotten so close to Rihanna’s face if she was going to crinkle it like she smelled something awful.
Rihanna, Sting, and Bruno Mars honored Bob Marley when they all sang Marley’s hit “Could You Be Loved.” The Lumineers sang their new song “Ho Hey,” and Jack White performed as well. Hunter Hayes sang despite his lack of spotlight since “Storm Warning” with his new song “Wanted”. There may be a more permanent spot in the spotlight for him in the new future.
Carrie Underwood sang her two-Grammy-winning song “Blown Away” with the most amazing dress I have ever seen. It had projections that changed with the song, and it really added to the performance. Last but certainly not least, there was a Sandy Hook Tribute that touched the hearts and ears of the audience.
With other notable performances throughout the night by the likes of Frank Ocean, The Black Keys, and more, the Grammys did not disappoint. In fact, the 55th Annual Grammy Awards were, as it often is, a combination of good music and good spectacle, with some awards thrown in for good measure.
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